Monthly Archives:
March 2016

MONTREAL – An annoying sign of spring — the dreaded pothole — is testing the patience of Canadian drivers this year while also creating a financial bonanza for auto repair shops. Extreme fluctuations in early spring temperatures along with lots of rain have unearthed a high number of potholes that are exposing motorists to hefty repair bills. “It’s probably the worst year I’ve seen in the last 10 to 15 years,” Ben Lalonde, president of My AutoPro service centres in Ottawa, said in a recent interview. Business is up as customers are showing up with bent wheels, punctured tires,

While Toronto has stood near the top of several “most dynamic Canadian market” lists for years now, the city is gradually running out of land for properties, and a realtor pointed at this fact as the main reason for swollen prices. Thomas Bosley, third-generation president and broker of record of Bosley Real Estate Ltd., said that the growing scarcity of single-family homes in Toronto is forcing families to stay put in semi-detached properties—in turn lowering supply and generating bidding frenzies that would continue to severely inflate prices for the foreseeable future. Figures from the Toronto Real Estate Board showed

There’s speculation that the federal budget coming Tuesday will include a tax measure that would hit people buying and then selling investment properties in hot housing markets. That’s not how higher taxes on capital gains would be billed, but people buying investment properties in addition to their principal residences would be affected. In reality, they’ll probably just shrug off the extra tax cost. “I don’t think, to be honest, that it would deter anybody,” said David Fleming, a real estate agent and author of TorontoRealtyBlog.com. Such is the level of enthusiasm about investing in residential real estate today, at

Millions of Android phones, including the entire line of Nexus models, are vulnerable to attacks that can execute malicious code and take control of core functions almost permanently, Google officials have warned. The officials have already uncovered one unidentified Google Play app that attempted to exploit the vulnerability, although they said they didn’t consider the app to be doing so for malicious purposes. They are in the process of releasing a fix, but at the moment any phone that hasn’t received a security patch level of March 18 or later is vulnerable. The flaw, which allows apps to gain

LISTED AT $769,000 SOLD FOR $810,000 Address: 5 Olive Avenue Neighbourhood: The Annex The property: One half of a tiny Annex farmhouse that dates to the late 19th century. The interior isn’t spacious, but it has graceful touches like cathedral ceilings and restored pine floors. The history: The original structure was built in 1888, and it seems to have been divided into two semi-detached homes at some point afterward. The sellers bought the eastern half of the property in 1998. The fate: The buyers, a young couple looking to settle down, were drawn to the home partly

Name: Piano Piano Neighbourhood: University Contact: 88 Harbord St., 416-929-7788, pianopianotherestaurant.com, @pianopianotherestaurant Previously: Splendido Owner and executive chef: Victor Barry Chefs: Jeff Lapointe (Splendido, Ufficio), Allison Grundman (Splendido) The food The Canadian-Italian dinner menu features old-school favourites (rigatoni, veal parm, wood-fired pizza) all made from scratch. There are also gluten- and dairy-free menus, and a kids’ menu that was devised by a nutritionist. “I have kids,” says Barry, “and I don’t want them eating just chicken fingers and fries.” The name of the restaurant is short for “piano piano va lontano” (Italian for “slowly, slowly one goes further”), and

LISTED AT $1,900,000 SOLD FOR $1,950,000 Address: 59 Sussex Avenue Neighbourhood: The Annex The property: This Annex Victorian used to be a three-unit rental property. Now it’s a spacious modern home with a third-floor loft. The history: The seller bought the triplex in 2010 and converted it into a single-family home, complete with a basement nanny suite. The fate: The buyers are a couple with children. Coincidentally, one of their fathers had rented out one of the units in the house before the renovation, adding an element of personal history to the sale. They loved the property’s central

My home is on the market and we’d like to have an open house. What should we do to prepare for it? With warmer weather upon us, open-house signs are starting to pop up more frequently. It’s one of the signs that we’re heading into the busy spring real estate market. March is also Fraud Prevention Month, a nationally recognized time for consumer protection organizations such as RECO to remind consumers about tips to avoid becoming victims of fraud. As you start planning and preparing your home for the selling process, you’ll probably be thinking about how to

Having less-than-ideal attic insulation is, essentially, another way of burning money. Chances are you know this, and have packed your uppermost level like a sardine can full of insulation. But that may still not be enough. “No matter how much insulation you add to the attic, if you don’t have a proper vapour barrier you’ll still lose heat and run into condensation issues,” says Bryan Baeumler, host of HGTV’s Leave it to Bryan and Canada’s Handyman Challenge. This week, he answers Star reader questions about replaced roofs, kitchen tiles and cottage foundations. Q: Our 1 1/2-storey, century farm house

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